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Thinking of dumping the car PC...

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Old 07-15-2006, 01:53 PM
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Alang
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Default Thinking of dumping the car PC...

I've had it for 3 years now, and am just getting tired of messing around with it. It never seems to be finished.

I got it originally for a "cheaper" navigation solution, but after all I have spent on it, it would have been a wash to get the factory nav.

Anyway, I want to get a double din touchscreen head unit like the pioneer or the Eclipse, but had a question about these units. Do any of them support multiple monitors? I have two 7" tft monitors that I used with my car PC (one touch and one non-touch). It would be really cool to keep a 7" in the nav spot as long as it could show something different that the head unit. Nav on one, MP3 player on the other kind of thing.

Can this be done?
Old 07-15-2006, 01:55 PM
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LS350Z
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I've seen a few Eclipse DDins playing nav on it's screen with other screens playing DVDs. No idea if it's a built in feature or some crazy j***y setup but I've definitely seen it done with at least 3 Eclipse units.
Old 07-15-2006, 04:55 PM
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maxipad96
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I went from an in car pc to a pioneer d1... it was torture.... I miss my car PC. Just call it finished and stop messing with it. My Mac navi was so much better than that pioneer horrible innacurate garbage. I also miss my endless .mp3's and DVD player.
Old 07-19-2006, 04:08 PM
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Peteski
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The eclipse avn5495 will support nav on one monitor while dvd on another
Old 07-19-2006, 05:55 PM
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Mike Wazowski
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go Alpine. It will support extra monitors and the Alpine Navigation system is one of the best on the Market.

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/product...&lang=en&tab=F

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/product...odel=NVE-N872A
Old 07-19-2006, 08:24 PM
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Blayzed
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Avic Z-1, 11 million points of interest, much faster than traditional navi that runs off of dvd-rom, Runs off of a 30gb HD, You can rip 10gb of your own music, and it supports dual output so you can watch dvds on a seperate monitor. I had one installed a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it. Also has built in Voice Command Recognition.

I originally wanted to go with Eclipse but the Z-1 is outstanding.
Old 07-20-2006, 09:16 AM
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Alang
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Z-1 is real nice, but pricy. I'll have to look into the Alpine a bit more.

Thanks.
Old 07-20-2006, 11:44 AM
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Can't believe you spent more than a factory POS 2000$ ?...
i ended up spending about $800 including software... i hacked up an old dell computer though... so that was 0$ ... my car pc gps has birds eye view and touchscreen...
Old 07-20-2006, 12:48 PM
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Alang
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Originally Posted by desiZ
Can't believe you spent more than a factory POS 2000$


Lets see, you spent $800 without the cost of a PC, add in another $800 for what the rest of us would have to spend for a box and you are at $1600 for the first iteration. Can you see how easy it would be to get over the $2K mark?

Mine has been a 3 year project with various iterations of monitors, software, hardware, cards, etc trying all different kinds of things. Its the trial and error stuff that drives the prices up.

Mine isn't a hacked PC running a cheap inverter. Its a mini-ITX form factor with a DC to DC power supply that handles hibernating and restoring the system off the ignition. Power supply alone was over $200, but it works great.

Are you starting to believe now.
Old 07-20-2006, 12:59 PM
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desiZ
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ok so you read mp3car.com - great! , i have an opus power supply (the 150W one) which handles engine crank yadda yadda... yea u have a mini itx epia... so what ... geez... u sound like you reinvented the wheel or something..

shesh... have a nice day!
Old 07-21-2006, 10:27 PM
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dont dump the pc i just installed mine i have the navi working all my 8000 mp3's and like 20 movies on there i have the ipod hook hard wired to back of the head unit all in all works great i would never go for the 2000 doller crap units that pioneer makes or alpine a pc has unlimited upgrade options i think the reason you are tired of the pc is you just cant stop working on it to be honest its fun gives me a little challange how can i make it better dude stick with the car pc
Old 07-22-2006, 06:57 AM
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maxipad96
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I was running a P1900, GPS, Mac Mini, Lilliput Touchscreen.... I spent around 800-1k. No way I was even close to 2. Now if you factor in my time..... that is a different story.
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